FreeNAS + Emby Server Hardware Build ~$1500 (2015)

September 12, 2015

Hi all, new to FreeNAS, been using Emby for awhile now. I want to upgrade my low powered, kinda eclectic server and storage farm running Emby and media to something pretty decent / beefy. Goal is to take care of storage (inc. redundancy / hot swap needs) and provide enough horses to Emby / ffmpeg for a few transcoding jobs from various users.

Soooo that being said, would be interested in picking your brains on below hardware build I've pulled together. I think they meet the FreeNAS reqs as well and Emby / ffmpeg CPU reqs to support multi-transcoding jobs.

Below build positions me for 15 total drives (using 3 FlexCages) but i'll start with one FlexCage and three drives for now.

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLH-F-O uATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C226 DDR3 1600 - $90
Intel Xeon E3-1246 v3 Haswell 3.5GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1150 84W Server Processor BX80646E31246V3 - $290
Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 Server Memory w/TS Model KVR16E11K4/32 - $240
ICY DOCK FlexCage MB975SP-B 3.5" & 5.25" Black SATA Tray-less 5 x 3.5" HDD in 3 x 5.25" Bay SATA Cage - $90
3 X Seagate NAS 4TB ST4000VN000 Internal Hard Drives - $390
Sharkoon T9 Value white Edition ATX (Case) - $100
Antec EDGE 650W 80-PLUS Gold Power - $98
+ a 32GB thumb drive to run FreeNAS off of - $12

Total: $1,310 + tax

Any issues, comments, suggestions?

Thanks so much!

September 12, 2015

RAIDZ1 or 2? Check out the RAID calculator here: https://jsfiddle.net/Biduleohm/hfqdpbLm/10/embedded/result/

You should consider a gold-rated 350 or 450W PSU. 350W will be more than enough power. Seasonic is suggested.

You should check out the QVL for the RAM on Supermicro's site.

Edited September 12, 2015 by dvgmar

September 12, 2015

Awesome thanks. I was planning on Raidz1 (i understand this is like a RAID5?)

Looks like total usable with 3X4TB at Raidz1 would be around 6TB.

Edited September 12, 2015 by Kent

September 12, 2015

Looks good. I second the PSU suggestion. I doubt you would need anything near 650 W. Load two thumb drives with the OS, in case one of them fails.

September 12, 2015

Thanks guys, will double check the RAM and PSU suggestion. I was thinking of future expansion if I want to load more drives in down the road, hence the larger PSU.

September 12, 2015

Awesome thanks. I was planning on Raidz1 (i understand this is like a RAID5?)

Looks like total usable with 3X4TB at Raidz1 would be around 6TB.

RAIDZ1 allows for the failure of 1 drive without losing data. Since you are just storing media and not irreplaceable documents or photos, RAIDZ2 would be overkill and loss of space. Do yourself a favor though and purchase an additional drive that you will keep on the shelf as a replacement when a drive dies. This way you won't have to worry about losing your data while waiting for a replacement to ship.

September 12, 2015

BTW, that's a MASSIVE case for such a small system; especially going with a uATX motherboard. You sure you don't want to go with anything smaller?

September 12, 2015

BTW, that's a MASSIVE case for such a small system; especially going with a uATX motherboard. You sure you don't want to go with anything smaller?

The 'plan' is to top it out at 15 drives over the next 2 - 3 years using 3 x Icy Dock FlexCages (5x3.5" hot swappable). Keeping it cool will be a challenge as is, let alone anything smaller.

So trying to build it with that in mind, hence the larger PSU and case. I'm also thinking of switching the mobo to a supermicro X10SL7F which would allow me to control all 15 drives without an expansion card down the road.

September 12, 2015

Oh, well you definitely want to go with the X10SL7F, that's a sweet board! Just keep in mind that with ZFS you can't just add disks to grow the pool, you will either have to offload the data - destroy the pool - recopy the data back... Or create a second vdev at the loss of storage space compared to it being two vdevs. 15 drives will be too wide for Z1 or Z2 so you will need to split that up into two vdevs. You should look to the FreeNAS forums for suggestions before you start building your pool.

September 13, 2015

Oh, well you definitely want to go with the X10SL7F, that's a sweet board! Just keep in mind that with ZFS you can't just add disks to grow the pool, you will either have to offload the data - destroy the pool - recopy the data back... Or create a second vdev at the loss of storage space compared to it being two vdevs. 15 drives will be too wide for Z1 or Z2 so you will need to split that up into two vdevs. You should look to the FreeNAS forums for suggestions before you start building your pool.

Wow i wasn't aware of that! I thought / assumed you plugged a drive in, added it to the volume and boom it expands out like the good ole magic disk days on windows whatever version it was

Thanks for much, let me figure this one out before i move forward. Maybe i need to modify the approach and build new volumes for each set of drives I build, copying over media as it grows. I.E. the first volume holds everything, then i add a second and make that the 'tv' volume leaving all the movies alone, etc etc.

Food for thought, thanks again!

September 13, 2015

You could get two identical USBs and mirror the boot drive. I recently switched out all my kingstons (some of which were crapping out) for 8GB sandisks and they've been running beautifully.

September 13, 2015

OK sounds good, two USB drives it is. Here is the updated list based on feedback from you all on this thread. Note: I stuck with the larger PSU for future proofing.

Mobo changed (and price fixed I typoed in OP), RAM changed (as per FreeNAS HW Ram thread).

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SL7-F-O uATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C222 DDR3 1600 - $250
Intel Xeon E3-1246 v3 Haswell 3.5GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1150 84W Server Processor BX80646E31246V3 - $290
2 x Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory Model CT2KIT102472BD160B - $248
ICY DOCK FlexCage MB975SP-B 3.5" & 5.25" Black SATA Tray-less 5 x 3.5" HDD in 3 x 5.25" Bay SATA Cage - $90
3 x Seagate NAS 4TB ST4000VN000 Internal Hard Drives - $390
Sharkoon T9 Value white Edition ATX (Case) - $100
Antec EDGE 650W 80-PLUS Gold Power - $98
wholesale 2*New Sandisk Cruzer Fit 8GB USB Flash Pen Drive SDCZ33 CZ33 Mini Memory Disk - $11

Total: $1,477 + tax

September 13, 2015

OK alternative build, more storage now and instead of scaling drives by quantity (from say 3 to 10 or something), I can replace the drives with larger ones and this should maintain my pool as well as I've read it's a valid strategy of increasing your pool size over time.

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLL-F-O uATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 DDR3 1600 - $168 // No need for the higher cost board if i maintain a 5 or 6 Disk system!
Intel Xeon E3-1241 v3 Haswell 3.5GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1150 80W Server Processor BX80646E31241V3 - $273 // Don't need GPU on the E3-1246 (on mobo)
2 x Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Server Memory Model CT2KIT102472BD160B - $248 // no change!
5 x Seagate NAS 4TB ST4000VN000 Internal Hard Drives - $650 // 12tb usable at raidz1 or 9tb at raidz2
Fractal Design Define R4 Black Pearl w/ USB 3.0 ATX Mid Tower Silent PC Computer Case - $70 // smaller case, recommended by FreeNAS guys!
SeaSonic SSR-450RM 450W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - $80
wholesale 2*New Sandisk Cruzer Fit 8GB USB Flash Pen Drive SDCZ33 CZ33 Mini Memory Disk - $11

Total: $1,500 + tax

September 13, 2015

I like option 2 for you except I suggest you go with the SL7 mobo for the day you DO decide to add more than 6 drives. The Define R4 is a beautiful case, check the pricing on the Define R5 though - it has some minor improvements. Watch Linus Tech Tips on YouTube for reviews.

The 8GB Cruiser Fit is a bit small, 16GB or 32GB would be a better choice to keep your System folders from filling up.

You don't need even the onboard video because of IPMI. Google it.

September 14, 2015

OK, Rev3 below. Couple of changes: back to SL7 mobo, increased to 8 x 2TB (WD Reds now - to run in RAIDz2 giving 8.5 TiB of available capacity), added a UPS and extra fan for the case. Yes, costs are higher (no longer a $1500 case) but I think this future proofs a bit as I can upgrade the drives to increase the vdev down the road, without destroying the vdev or adding a second one.

Struggling with the PSU also (on this build revision with 8 drives). I need to get some more SATA cables in there. Ideally i stick with the Seasonic from previous build and use molex or go with this enermax. I can't find a fully modular PSU with 8 sata cables unless i increase the PSU higher than 600, or buy special order sata cables that end of pushing the cost higher.

Also, I looked at the Define R5 and there isn't enough in new value to warrant the $40 price increase over the R4. This below parts list is also missing the USB flash drives but that's like an extra $15 bucks.

Thoughts?

September 14, 2015

Your build, along with others, has finally encouraged me to build a spreadsheet that everyone can edit. Purpose is to find the most cost-effective effective drive setup. Check it out here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wi-4CN2opzw2yAiM9JHC5VAiT9FFIBxhVECBk73jH1Y/htmlview

September 14, 2015

ERROR! You have the memory listed twice. Max memory for that chip is 32GB.

http://ark.intel.com/products/80909?ui=BIG

September 14, 2015

ERROR! You have the memory listed twice. Max memory for that chip is 32GB.

http://ark.intel.com/products/80909?ui=BIG

Will check out your spreadsheet!

Memory is listed twice but only 32GB. It's 2 pairs of 2x8GB or 4 x 8GB= 32GB

Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($123.99 @ Adorama)

September 14, 2015

Alternative to Rev3, this one is Rev3-QS to enable QuickSync CPU for future fffmpeg goodness. I lose CPU horses now but gain massive hardware acceleration once ffmpeg and Emby start supporting quicksync acceleration. I think it's a 'decent' trade off, still considering it. Less expensive too.

September 14, 2015

Your build, along with others, has finally encouraged me to build a spreadsheet that everyone can edit. Purpose is to find the most cost-effective effective drive setup. Check it out here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wi-4CN2opzw2yAiM9JHC5VAiT9FFIBxhVECBk73jH1Y/htmlview

So according to your sheet, below results say 8 x 2tb drives are more cost effective then 6 x 3tb drives.

Size # Usable Space PP Drive PP Usable TB Total Cost

2TB 8 9440 $ 88.99 $ 9.427 $ 711.92

3TB 6 9440 $ 108.89 $ 11.535 $ 653.34

6TB 6 18890 $ 248.99 $ 13.181 $ 1,493.94

6TB 8 28340 $ 248.99 $ 8.786 $ 1,991.92

This helps a lot as I'm still debating 6 drives vdev vs 8 drive vdev. 6 drives vdev i can shave $140 off the cost by going with a SLL-F mobo, back to seasonic psu, fewer drives to buy.

6 drive vdev (6x3tb) = 8.592 TiB @ $1624.21 (Rev2) OR

8 drive vdev (8x2tb) = 8.592 TiB @ $1768.75 (Rev3)

expandable to:

6 drive vdev (6x6tb) = 17.18 TiB

8 drive vdev (8x6tb) = 25.77 TiB

What your spreadsheet helps to understand is taht 8x2TB is more cost effective overall as I get more usable data space at the cost per TB.

At the end, it will depend on how i use the vdev and my capacity / growth needs over the next 5 years or so. I only have about 3 or 4 TB of data now, as I prune data on a fairly regular basis.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Kent

September 14, 2015

Hi all, new to FreeNAS, been using Emby for awhile now. I want to upgrade my low powered, kinda eclectic server and storage farm running Emby and media to something pretty decent / beefy. Goal is to take care of storage (inc. redundancy / hot swap needs) and provide enough horses to Emby / ffmpeg for a few transcoding jobs from various users.

Soooo that being said, would be interested in picking your brains on below hardware build I've pulled together. I think they meet the FreeNAS reqs as well and Emby / ffmpeg CPU reqs to support multi-transcoding jobs.

Below build positions me for 15 total drives (using 3 FlexCages) but i'll start with one FlexCage and three drives for now.

SUPERMICRO MBD-X10SLH-F-O uATX Server Motherboard LGA 1150 Intel C226 DDR3 1600 - $90

Intel Xeon E3-1246 v3 Haswell 3.5GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1150 84W Server Processor BX80646E31246V3 - $290

Kingston 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM ECC Unbuffered DDR3 1600 Server Memory w/TS Model KVR16E11K4/32 - $240

ICY DOCK FlexCage MB975SP-B 3.5" & 5.25" Black SATA Tray-less 5 x 3.5" HDD in 3 x 5.25" Bay SATA Cage - $90

3 X Seagate NAS 4TB ST4000VN000 Internal Hard Drives - $390

Sharkoon T9 Value white Edition ATX (Case) - $100

Antec EDGE 650W 80-PLUS Gold Power - $98

+ a 32GB thumb drive to run FreeNAS off of - $12

Total: $1,310 + tax

Any issues, comments, suggestions?

Thanks so much!

I would just ensure you have planned long term and that you have enough PCI-E slots for SATA Controllers.

September 14, 2015

Will check out your spreadsheet!

Memory is listed twice but only 32GB. It's 2 pairs of 2x8GB or 4 x 8GB= 32GB

Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($123.99 @ Adorama)

Memory: Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($123.99 @ Adorama)

Ha! Yeah, it was early and I read it as 16GBx2

September 14, 2015

@@Kent I fixed the Price per usable TB calculation - I had the wrong cell in there. It's now correct and properly reflects using less larger drives as being the better value. I knew something didn't look right when you made that post. Thanks! So yes, fewer LARGER drives is more cost effective than many smaller drives.

September 14, 2015

Well, that's kind of a bummer. I wanted the opposite to be true

So with the revised numbers, i'll pay $6 more per usable TB of storage going with 8 x 2TB drives. The benefit of that is: 1) future proof to expand to 28tb without having to rebuild the vdev or adding a new pool, and 2) $9 cheaper per usable TB when/if I expand to 8x6TB down the road.

Size # Usable Space PP Drive PP Usable TB Total Cost

2TB 8 9440 $ 88.99 $ 75.415 $ 711.92

3TB 6 9440 $ 108.89 $ 69.210 $ 653.34

6TB 6 18890 $ 248.99 $ 79.086 $ 1,493.94

6TB 8 28340 $ 248.99 $ 70.287 $ 1,991.92

This is really a tough one.

September 14, 2015

If you want the more drives option for future pool expansion just spend the extra $58 for the 8 drives, it's a minimal cost to TRIPLE your space later on. This is compared to only doubling your capacity with the 6 drive setup.

FreeNAS + Emby Server Hardware Build ~$1500 (2015)

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